The Vero cell line is used in the production of viral based vaccines. The use of cell based vaccines based on the Vero cell line is growing. The majority of the vaccines in use today are produced using cell culture medium supplemented with serum. The use of animal-derived products in vaccine culture media presents a risk for the transmission of infectious disease on a wide scale. Current commercially available serum-free vaccine media are not defined, inconsistent, and do not offer the same performance as media supplemented with serum. We propose to produce a superior performance, defined, animal-free, cell culture medium for vaccine production. Our project addresses the call by agencies for a safe alternative to animal-derived components in vaccine production. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Epithelial cell lines such as Vero are used in the manufacture of viral based vaccines and their use is expanding. Current commercially available animal-free vaccine production media are not defined and do not offer the same performance as media supplemented with serum. We propose the industry's first defined, high performance animal-free, cell culture medium to increase the safety and the production of vaccines.